League of American Bicyclists Newsletter - May 10, 2010

The League's 2010 Bicycle Friendly Communities were announced on May 1, to coincide with the start of Bike Month. We named 16 new BFCs, with 3/4 of the awarded communities east of the Mississippi River! Read about the winners here.

May is National Bike Month

May is National Bike Month, and their are tons of events nationwide. The weather is welcoming, so now is thetime to encourage your friends, family and co-workers to bike to work, school and for errands. Bike to Work Week is May 17-21 and Bike to Work day is Friday, the 21st. Check out events in your areahere. If you have a website, newsletter, etc. feel free to use the League'spromotional materials, like our Bike Month banners, logos and buttons. Help make every month Bike Month!

League News

League National Rally

The League's National Rally is this June 3-6 -- our 130th rally! We are teaming up with the Bicycle Coalition of New Mexico and will ride to honor Gail Ryba, founder of the Bicycle Coalition of New Mexico. Join cyclists from across the country for three days of riding through the colorful and historic New Mexican terrain. This is a great chance to ride with League members and bicycle enthusiasts. Find out more.

State and Local News

Pennsylvania Ave. Bike Lanes Near Completion

The road to the nation's Capitol is converting two traffic lanes on Pennsylvania Ave. to bike-only lanes. Most are overjoyed with the visual message these lanes share with the rest of the country. AAA Mid-Atlantic's Managing Director Lon Anderson, however, is not happy. In his attempt to point to the annoyance of bike lanes on Pennsylvania Ave. he managed to highlight that "20 percent of surveyed AAA members in the District said the changes would compel them to become regular bicycle commuters." Read more at the Washington Examiner and on the League Blog.

Maine Bicycling PSAs

The Bicycle Coalition of Maine has created two new public service announcements about bicycle safety. One raises awareness about the Maine law requiring motorists to give at least three feet of clearance when passing cyclists. The other stresses the importance of wearing bicycle helmets. Watch the PSAs here.

Cycling in New York

As we reported two weeks ago, a new case study "Cycling in New York" will be published in World Transport Policy and Practice this summer. Since then, the report was updated with an abstract. Read the complete study here. Learn more.

International News

Velo City Global

Six weeks from now the cycling world will descend on Copenhagen for the Velo City Global conference - June 22-25. Check out the third announcement, including the full program. Watch the cool promotional video to get a taste of the culture you'll enjoy first hand. There is a strong U.S. delegation headed to the event; make sure you are part of it. Register here.

Advocacy News

Bikes Belong Awards $50,000 in Grants

Bikes Belong awarded funding to six projects in their Spring 2010 grant cycle. These grants will help create better places to ride, while leveraging federal funding and building momentum for bicycling nationwide. The Bikes Belong Grants Program is funded by ourEmployee Pro Purchase Program. Read more.

Alliance for Biking & Walking Aid

The Alliance for Biking & Walking is increasing aid to bicycle and pedestrian advocacy organizations across North America thanks to recent support from New Belgium Brewing Company, a League Bicycle Friendly Business. New Belgium's pledge of $40,000 over the next two years will allow the Alliance to offer strategic planning facilitation and guidance to at least six organizations in addition to providing direct organization support and coaching in key states. Read more.

Adventure Cycling Receives U.S. Bike Route Grant

Adventure Cycling Association announced on May 6 that the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials' (AASHTO) Center for Environmental Excellence is providing Adventure Cycling $5,000 to assist states with route selection, mapping, and the technical aspects associated with the development of a U.S. Bicycle Route System (USBRS).

Job Opportunities

PA Walks and Bikes Job Opportunity.

Pennsylvania Walks and Bikes seeks an Executive Director to continue its rapid growth. Click here for more info.

Transit for Livable Communities Job Opportunity

Transit for Livable Communities (TLC) is a nonprofit organization working to reform Minnesota's transportation system and is searching for an Executive Director. Click here for more info.

The League of American Bicyclists promotes bicycling for fun, fitness and transportation, and works through advocacy and education for a bicycle-friendly America. The League represents the interests of America's 57 million bicyclists, including its 300,000 members and affiliates. For more information or to support the League, visitwww.bikeleague.org.

The Dispatch report that Columbus Rides Bikes shared on Facebook today is entitled "More crashes come with more bicycle traffic on dedicated lanes," and discusses the new lanes and the number of accidents that have happened there. None of these accidents/crashes has been fatal.

So... you can read the article and get the statistics. Here's a summary of them, though, with a quote from the article:
...the number of crashes has jumped. Between 2012 and 2015, there were five crashes involving bicycles on Summit between Hudson and East 5th Avenue.…

In a move that has left quite a few people stranded in Columbus, the ride-sharing company Car2Go has announced today that they're pulling out of the local market as of May 31.

car2go is saddened to announce that we have made the difficult decision to suspend our operations in Columbus as of May 31. Read why here: https://t.co/gRSibUhotB
— car2go Columbus (@car2goColumbus) May 24, 2018
This has got me more than a little pissed off and very inconvenienced.

There's no doubt - Car2Go improved the quality of my family's life for the past few years while they were active in town. As a one-car family where I rode my bike and took the bus most days, Car2Go filled in the gap nicely when we needed that extra set of wheels to get ourselves places.

Here's the news they sent out via their website today:

HELLO,
We’re writing to let you know that after careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to discontinue car2go service in Columbus, effective May 31, 2018.
In 201…

Yes, the City of Columbus has an iPhone app. And an Android App, if you're so inclined.

It's actually been out for a couple of years now, and it gives locations of city services and the like. I've not mentioned the thing here on Carless Columbus in the past because, frankly, I haven't found it all that useful (and if the features I'm talking about have actually been part of the app in the past, I apologize, I just discovered them recently).

But, I'm happy to say that's changed. The app now has a link to the Columbus 311 service line where you can file service requests with the city to get things fixed! This includes issues like potholes, requesting bike racks, and a multitude of other issues (not all bike- or even traffic-related). So you need never worry about forgetting to file a request to have a pothole fixed again - just pull over (PLEASE) and file your claim as you find the pothole in question, or see a great spot for a bike rack, or whatever.…